Rabbi

Adjunct Professor, Comparative Religion

Rabbi

Adjunct Professor, Comparative Religion

As an interreligious leader and professor of comparative religion, this Rabbi speaks to the universal truths of the Scripture and theology of the Scientology religion and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. He conveys his sentiments of the Church and its members, stating “It’s filled with people… who want to leave the world in a better place” and who are “dedicated to affirming the right of an individual to exist safely, plus be drug- and intoxicant-free.” He further speaks to the Church’s “force, its vision and its dogged-relentlessness,” entreating Scientologists to follow the example of the religion’s founder and continue their work “until good is everywhere.”

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

I take L. Ron Hubbard’s work seriously as religious literature. I look at it theologically the same way I would look at the various denominations within Judaism, the various denominations of Christianity—so I look at it seriously.

There is no doubt in me that it contains enormous universal truth and it is framed in a way that is very unusual because it is modern and it draws on knowledge from the early twentieth century on. And it has put it together and structured it in a way that it’s very, very easy for people to get, and is not just for the people who don’t have a formal education. Whether you have a formal education or whether you have an academic, the question is, can the knowledge reach your heart?

He happens to have an enormous gift for structuring knowledge. I’ve never quite seen it in anyone. And his literature has wonderful things in it that I would really recommend that people take seriously as theology.

This is a very, very unique, unique church. It’s a modern church. It hasn’t been in existence many years. It doesn’t have some of the trappings of the older churches. You don’t have to work through it the same way.

So giving people here an opportunity to look at the spiritual phenomenon through different eyes, contemporary eyes, without the baggage and the guilt from the past, I think that’s an incredibly important thing in a community which has to undergo a tremendous renovation to catch up with itself.

This church has spread, in centers and churches, in fifty something years, faster than Christendom. It’s an amazing phenomenon that could never have taken place without the technologies that we have. It’s just a phenomenon. I think honestly all good social movements need to learn from the Church of Scientology and how they communicate.

It’s filled with people. Good people, caring people, loving people—people who want to leave the world in a better place. That’s what I do, I wake up in the morning, that’s what I live for and that’s what I get back from working with the Church of Scientology. They are bountifully energetic, unrelenting, caring and it gives me hope that I don’t have to do it all, that I don’t have to be the only lone ranger. That I have friends, that I have family, that I have spiritual brethren and sisters who are working with me. That’s an incredible feeling.

And in terms of what Scientology offers, it’s really important. I do work with Scientology on international human rights and there are human rights issues right here in terms of violations of people’s sanctity, of self—which we commonly call violence. There’s also a drug problem and Scientology is in the forefront of making sure people are drug-free. So it’s really significant that this kind of church that’s dedicated to affirming the right of an individual to exist safely, plus be drug- and toxin-free. It’s really an excellent thing to put right here on 125th Street.

Where there are people doing good, the presence of God is there. Please do good. That’s all I want Scientology to do. Take its force, its vision, its dogged relentlessness and don’t stop until good is everywhere. That’s the gift I believe that L. Ron Hubbard was teaching the entire world.